


Something Comforting

by TidbitsAndThoughts



Series: Song Fic Stories [7]
Category: A Hat in Time (Video Game)
Genre: Dadtcher, Fever, Fever Dreams, I think it's a pretty lax fic, Sick Fic, Stitches, also, and then a hint of a character but technically not really seen, for a ghost, let me know if I need to tag anything else, so i'll leave this one out for now, there are some
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-31
Updated: 2020-08-31
Packaged: 2021-03-06 22:15:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,310
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26216260
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TidbitsAndThoughts/pseuds/TidbitsAndThoughts
Summary: Snatcher pushes his soul too far and starts to literally fall apart! It's happened before but he can't really do much save for waiting for the subconites to return with the cure. Luckily, he's got his daughter to help out and maybe, amidst the pain, he can find something comforting.The song this time is Something Comforting from Porter Robinson, which you can find here; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-C-2AqRD8io
Series: Song Fic Stories [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1884079
Comments: 12
Kudos: 67





	Something Comforting

The specter dropped to the ground as embers crackled and snapped around him. His talons gripped at the soil and he inhaled a steadying breath. He _had_ to do this. He _had_ to figure this out.

It didn’t matter that using this much power could be disastrous for him, he was going to make a fire strong enough for the _whole_ forest.

Forcing himself into a sitting position with his tail twitching from the power coursing through his form, he lifted trembling talons and tried to summon a large blue flame once more. The light flickering in his palm expanded. Blue tongues of fire licked at oxygen and cast a cool light on the orange atmosphere of the burning forest. The enchanted embers burned as they grew, hotter and hotter as they thrived off of the thick magic that had long ago seeped into the very essence into the forest. Snatcher tapped into that power, using his ghostly form to tether the fire to the forest, much like he had placed the small flame in the spring where the old clock tower had been. Though this was a much larger fire.

And he could only take so much.

The weight of the growing flame became too hungry, and Snatcher’s form caved under the sudden rush of energy in his soul. With a crackle, the blue fire exploded in the woods, sending a wave of pleasant warmth throughout his domain. The concentration of magic he had tried to syphon coursed through his arms and tail since he had failed to redirect it. It overwhelmed his soul. The ghost writhed on the ground in pain, gripping at earth as his form struggled to maintain itself.

“Boss!” One of his minions cried out, running over to Snatcher.

The ghost turned his head, holding onto the earth like it was the only thing keeping him together as magic pulsed through his core. He winced as the golden forms of his eyes wavered like a heat mirage.

“I-I’m fine,” Snatcher hissed before the magic began tearing through his thoughts. He tried to push himself up, but he dropped.

He lost consciousness before hitting the ground.

_Red thread. He remembered. The shadow prince had devoured too many souls. An army, angry at the ghosts who had taken over the forest. The prince had grown into a monster with uncontrollable talons and he had burned. He burned with grief and anger and he had tried to explain he was not the monster but the wicked ice Queen hiding in the manor was, but no human believed him._

_They attacked the doll children, who had suffered enough. They attacked the trees that had just began defrosting and growing again. The shadow prince retaliated, unable to stop as claws tore souls out of bodies like popping a pit from a cherry. And the shadow prince, whose soul was worn and just the loving soul of a human consumed by grief, was not strong enough to hold so much energy._

_He remembered feeling like he was dying again, crumpled among the wreckage that he still managed to tower over. He remembered the ache soothed away by a red string._

_Was that why he always found sewing something comforting?_

He felt something cool on his head when he came to some time later. He opened his eyes slowly. Orange and red treetops with red haze met his gaze. Chatter could be heard close by, but it was obscured by the popping flames. Though he was a soul without a body, he felt his entire being ache. His head felt muffled by the magic that clung to his thoughts like sticky goop. He grimaced.

Lifting a talon that twitched and phased in and out erratically, Snatcher confirmed his suspicions. He had tried to control too much magic and now he was falling apart. He let his talon drop and closed his eyes with a grunt.

“Snatcher?” Hattie’s voice popped into his head.

He relaxed, hearing his daughter’s voice. Usually, when he pushed his form too much, either by consuming too many souls or trying to use too much magic, his feverish state left him reliving nightmares or past memories he wished he could forget.

But then he was sure he felt something gently poke his cheek.

“Dad? Are you awake?” Her voice came again.

He opened his eyes, though it was a chore to focus his gaze on anything, let alone the concerned features leaning over him with her signature purple and yellow hat.

“K-kid.” He didn’t have a tongue, but the instability of his form extended to his words. “W-what are you doing here?”

“You have a fever,” Hattie explained, reaching up. He felt the cool something leave his forehead and the dull ache sharpened.

“Ghosts don’t get fevers,” Snatcher slurred his words unhelpfully. The sound of water sloshing in a bucket sent him back to a time when he was sick in bed and his mother cared for him. Just like long ago, a wet cloth found its way to his forehead and curbed the throbbing in his thoughts.

“I don’t need to be cared for like a child,” he muttered out loud, furrowing his brows but too tired to do anything about it.

“The subconites and I tried to move you out of the burning forest,” Hattie explained with a bit of an edge, ignoring his grumbling. Her voice sounded distant as he felt like he was falling, “but you phased out of our hands. This is the first time I’ve been grateful for the ice in the forest.”

“I’ll take care of the ice,” Snatcher mumbled, unable to keep his eyes open a moment longer.

Then he slipped into darkness.

_Ice stuck in his foggy mind like the magical goop slowly eating away at his soul. He had to get rid of the ice. Suddenly, he found himself running through a cavern with crystals of blue, green, and pink. Tails of spirits wearing masks slipped out of reach. Light laughter echoed down the crystals._

_He ran, his purple boots tapping anxiously at the cold ground. His chestnut hair flopped into his eyes. He tried to lift a hand to brush back the locks, but his hand was gone._

“Hurk!” Snatcher sat up, causing the cloth to drop from his head. Tremors tore through his core. His right hand was phasing in and out, disappearing for moments at a time. Lifting his other hand to try and hold his wrist, he attempted to wriggle his phantom talons but he could not control them.

“Oh!” Hattie ran over from the bench positioned around an unlit campfire. “What’s wrong?”

“I—” Snatcher winced as an ache ripped through his head. He lifted his left hand to his forehead and grunted as he held out his twitching arm.

“Lay down,” Hattie instructed. She pushed lightly on his chest and he leaned back, holding her concerned blue gaze. While she grabbed the cloth from his stomach and lowered it into a nearby bucket, she asked, “do you remember what happened?”

“Crystals?” Snatcher muttered, blinking at the burning leaves above him.

“What?” Hattie asked, the fear in her gaze reaching her voice. “I meant do you remember what you were doing before you passed out?”

She reached over and placed the cool cloth back on his forehead. Curious, he glanced over at the water bucket and she tilted it so he could see the block of melting ice surrounded by water.

“I remember,” he began, settling back, “the fire.” He winced as another pain cut through his chest. Now that he was mostly awake, he could feel the familiar and dangerous sensation of the magic in the forest curling tendrils through his soul. Like fingernails digging into his heart or like ice cutting into rock, he could feel the magic seep into fractures and push him apart from within.

“I was trying to make a fire that could sustain itself,” he explained thickly. “I thought if I could create a fire warm enough that didn’t need me to keep it going, we could place it near the manor and defrost everything and everyone.”

Hattie walked around to his other side and grabbed his large hand. She hugged the back of it to her chest and his talons weakly curled around her arms and gave her a light squeeze.

“Is it true this happened because your soul is fractured?” She asked.

Snatcher closed his eyes, aching too much to keep them open.

“What did my minions tell you?” He groaned.

“They said this happens when your soul uses too much magic. Apparently, the Badge Seller has the same problem, sometimes?” She rested her chin in the nook of his talons. “I hadn’t really thought about it,” she added pensively, “but there are multiple Badge Sellers, huh? I always thought they were the one person. But thinking back there was one time where a Badge Seller’s soul was trapped in a painting right in view of the Badge Seller in the subconites’ village. So, the Badge Seller is twitchy because their soul is fragmented?”

“Hmm,” Snatcher hummed noncommittally. He felt a jolt of pain and his body writhed, parts of him disappearing and stretching uncomfortably. Eyes shooting open, he automatically clenched his fists. Hattie gasped in surprise and he immediately loosen the talons around her arms.

“Are you o—” he lifted his head to look at her features. When she nodded, squeezing his hand in forgiveness he dropped his head back down, moaning.

“So,” she tried again, scooting closer and leaning her head on his torso. Her weight helped to ground him, he found. “Why is your soul fragmented?”

“I don’t know, Kiddo,” he sighed, staring up at the treetops. To be honest, he had never really felt like he was missing something.

Or, he felt as complete as a ghost of a prince who had lost everything could.

He recalled the Badge Seller explaining to his minions one of the first times it had happened. They had said a fragment of a soul, though it could thrive and exist as the whole soul once had, was more susceptible to being overwhelmed by magic. A fragment of a soul had an easier time being further split apart.

“Is another Snatcher hiding somewhere?” Hattie glanced around like another shadow would emerge from the deep forest.

“I have a couple cardboard ones if I’m not enough,” he teased dryly. Hattie snorted and he smiled despite the magic twisting through his body.

“The subconites are looking for the cure,” Hattie leaned back against him. “Something about a magic thread? Do you need anything right now, though?”

Snatcher shook his head. Whenever this happened, resting until help came was the only option. But the crystals pushed on the corners of his mind and he was beginning to fear the silence.

“Actually,” he began quietly, wincing through a jolt of pain, “if you could. Just talk to me.”

“What about?”

“Anything.” Anything that might be comforting.

“I think I’m legally a bird on this planet, so that’s pretty cool,” Hattie offered without batting an eye.

“What?” Snatcher tilted his head up, but the movement aggravated the cracks in his soul and his form glitched painfully. He laid back down with a groan, his talons squeezing Hattie like she was his lifeline. He whispered tightly, “tell me about how you legally became a bird. Details, kid.”

Hattie obliged, getting comfortable as she leaned against his stomach, still hugging his hand. He closed his eyes as she explained the massive bill she racked up sneaking into Dead Bird Studios. Smiling vaguely at all the property damage and even snorting at a T.P. KO, he found himself drifting and her voice soon disappeared.

_A fractal snowflake landed on his nose. Reflected on the shimmering blue surface with a purple tint, Hattie smiled brightly. He tried to balance, keep the precious snowflake suspended, but his legs were stuck together. He couldn’t look down to see what was wrong or he would risk losing her. Then, more snow. Ice crystals piled on top of his nose, one by one. Each crystal shimmered with pink or green or purple tinted reflections of all the people the prince had loved, still loved._

_Tim. Primrose. Thor. His parents. Children. Dolls. They piled high and he was afraid he would drop the snowflakes as he twisted back and forth, trying to balance them. He had to save them all. Was that so wrong? Hattie was safe. Couldn’t the others be safe too?_

_Another snowflake. A smiling face with chestnut locks. The snowflake with his face fell on top. He felt an ache in his chest. He wanted to protect all of the snowflakes so badly it hurt. But if one had to fall, he knew which he would let slip though his fingers._

_Why did it hurt? Why did it feel like the warmth in his chest was burning uncontrollably?_

_What was wrong with him?_

_He slipped back and dropped._

“We have to do something!” Hattie’s voice was distant.

_A dark void. Golden cracks surrounded him, shattering his world._

“He’s never been this bad before!” A high-pitched voice echoed.

_He winced as he looked at his hands, glitching between human, ghost, or talons. Golden crevices spread from his palms and up his arms._

“Here’s the thread!” Another light voice yelled.

_Then, red lines pulsed over the gold, stitching the void back together. Pain gripped his being and—_

He jerked awake, panting as a glimmering scarlet thread embedded itself into his chest. Snatcher tried to push himself up, but his right arm could not support him. Looking down, he found his talons and arm split with golden light, but red string turning purple methodically stitched his arm back together.

He used his left arm to scoot into a sitting position and he found Hattie looping his right arm over her shoulder, offering support. He scanned his torso and tail, which also contained golden cracks needing tending.

“Are you okay?” She asked, her voice wavering as he felt threads pulling his soul back together.

“Fine,” he lied through his fangs.

She gently tugged him backwards and led him to a bright red mushroom that was just a couple feet away. Leaning him against the bouncy and toasty mushroom, she scooted away to watch as his twitching form pulled itself together.

Snatcher groaned, reaching for his aching chest, but the tail end of the thread seeping into him gently pushed his talon back. Hattie immediately jumped over him and grabbed his inquisitive talon. The red thread brushed against her thumb as if thanking her. Hattie turned, giving a nod to something but when Snatcher followed her eyes, he frowned. At first, he had thought she had been looking at the small group of his minions circled around them, but she seemed to be looking off into the distance.

There was nothing there. Just the backdrop of a burning forest.

Finally, the last of the thread disappeared into his chest and his aching form tightened. The magic that had been pulling him apart had been subdued. Lifting the hand that had been dissolving, he wiggled his talons, relieved the gold cracks had been repaired and all he could see was a steady purple hand. His soul was tethered back together.

“Thank you,” Hattie breathed, looking back over the circle of dolls.

Snatcher raised an eyebrow, not seeing what she was seeing. He glanced down at the subconites who also appeared to be looking around, their hoods drooping in bewilderment.

“Kid,” Snatcher turned, tilting his head. “Who are you talking to?”

“Him!” Hattie pointed at an empty space behind the subconites and giving Snatcher an astounded look.

“Do you have a fever, now?” Snatcher lifted a talon to her forehead.

“What? No.” Hattie scowled, pushing his hand away. Her large blue eyes looked back to the empty space and panic filled her features. She scrambled to her feet and sprinted away. “No, wait!” She cried, weaving between the subconites. Snatcher leaned forward, intending to go after her, but his form was still tight with a dull ache. He fell back against the mushroom, watching as Hattie held out her hand to nothing.

“Please,” she said. “Who are you?”

Snatcher and the subconites exchanged befuddled looks as Hattie seemed to take something in her hands, clasping around air gently.

“Why are you so cold?” Her voice sounded pained.

Snatcher’s frown deepened. Was there actually a spirit the kid was seeing? She wasn’t even wearing a dweller mask. How could a human like her see a spirit that even he or the other dwellers couldn’t see?

“Please, wait!” Hattie cried, her hands distancing and shifting into a grasping motion. It seemed the spirit left, because she stumbled forward, her eyes large as her gaze traced an arc in the air. She stared beyond the moon.

“Kiddo?” Snatcher asked after a moment. “Is everything okay?”

Hattie turned, meeting his gaze. Though, the creases in her features indicated she was deep in thought.

“I’m fine.” Her countenance softened and she crossed back over to him. “How are you?”

“Fine.” His eyes narrowed. Should he push her for details? She didn’t seem ready to talk about whatever she saw.

If she had thanked the spirit was it the one responsible for the red thread? Had it been responsible for every red thread before?

They stared at each other for a second before Hattie sat down next to him, propping her head in her hands with a scowl.

“If you’re fine now, don’t do that again, you stupid jerk!”

“Excuse me?” Snatcher startled, his grin stretching across his features.

“I thought you were going to—disappear or something—for good!” Hattie’s blue eyes widened, the sudden anger flickering to reveal fear. “I had to sit here while it looked like you were—and the subconites were even scared you had pushed yourself too far this time. How often do you make yourself sick like this?”

“It’s no big deal, Kiddo.” Snatcher waved a tired hand dismissively.

“I almost lost you again!” Hattie cried, straightening and gesturing widely. “I-I thought—” Her voice cracked and she paused, shutting her mouth as her eyes watered. She looked up, blinking back tears.

Surprise flickered in the specter’s gaze. He hadn’t really been thinking about that. That if he pushed himself too far that even magic threads couldn’t save him, Hattie would be alone again. Having lived an afterlife with that loneliness, he wouldn’t wish it on anyone, especially her.

Snatcher reached over, cupping her head in his palm. Though, because he was large at the moment, her head only filled less than half of his hand.

“You can’t get rid of me that easily,” he promised.

She held his hand against her cheek and sniffled, wiping at a few stray tears. “You have to promise to not push yourself that much. We’re going to save everyone together, okay?” Her blue eyes shined, and a thought occurred to Snatcher.

He wasn’t the only one balancing his snowflake.

“I promise.” Snatcher nodded. He leaned back against the mushroom and exhaled.

“You okay?” Hattie asked worriedly.

“Just tired.” He closed his eyes.

“Do you want to hear about the time Bo and I smuggled time traveling gerbils in our classroom?” Hattie offered. Her voice wavered a little, though he could hear the smile in the memory.

“It’s comforting to know you were always a brat,” he teased weakly, flicking her hat off her head and ruffling her hair with his eyes still closed.

“Must be genetic.” She shoved his talon away and blew a raspberry.

Snatcher laughed lightly. Hattie leaned against him and started her story. With gentle popping of the flames in the surrounding forest, Snatcher slipped into gentle sleep as his daughter told him something comforting.

**Author's Note:**

> AKA I can't articulate how special the line, "Oh someone tell me something comforting" is so I wrote a fic. ALSO HERE COMES MY BOY. Let me know if I ever miss a tag or anything. The next fic gets a little rough but we'll get to that later. Anyway, thank you so much for reading! Please let me know what you think and take care of yourselves!


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